Quotes

Satan’s greatest ambassadors are not pimps, politicians, or power-brokers, but pastors. His priests do not peddle a different religion, but a deadly perversion of the true one. His troops do not make a full-out frontal assault, but work as agents, sneaking into the opposing army. Satan’s tactics are studied, clever, predictable, effective. Therefore, we must always remain vigilant. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16a). -Tim Challies

If you are new to this blog and haven’t watched this short video on the heretic Mark T. Barclay yet–you should and it’s called Mark T. Barclay and Heresy on the Trinity and you can hear and see for yourself that along with other cults–the heretic worships and serves a radically different god than authentic Christianity.

“The whole mystery of God is that He is 3 in 1. Three separate parts yet also one complete GOD. I have never heard Mark T. Barclay go against that Doctrine.” D.Meeker

In a nutshell, here’s what the heretic Mark T. Barclay has heretically taught.

The heretic Mark T. Barclay has Gnostically taught that God is made up of parts and is a three–part being.

He has taught that the Trinity is not individual persons (hypostasis) for he heretically states that: “We teach them sorta, kinda almost as three different people for the sake of teaching.”

Like the Jehovah Witnesses, the heretic has taught that in heaven God was Creator and not the Father. Thus, teaching an Arian concept of the person of the Father.

Against the Authority of Scripture which states that God doesn’t change, the heretic has heathanistically taught that God changed for human understanding.

The heretic Barclay’s radical false teachings on the Godhead, damages the orthodox and cardinal teaching of Christ’s hypostatic union, being fully and truly God and fully and truly man in one single divine person.

There aren’t to many words which can describe the perverseness of the heretic Mark T. Barclay’s teachings on the members and the doctrine of the Trinity, because they are more radical than ISIS is to Islam. Words like blasphemy and blasphemy of the Holy Spirit come to my mind, because historically, authentic Christianity has taught that the heretic’s teaching aren’t only heretical, but that they are blasphemous to the Spirit who is holy and that because of his heresies on the Trinity–the heretic Barclay is an apostate.

I say that, because in Christian history we don’t see so many different heresies compounded into one false teaching as with the heretic Mark T. Barclay’s false teachings on the Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ. It’s so radical, that we are witnessing one of the biggest false teachers in all of Christian history today…. right before our eyes.

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Matthew 7:15

*I put William Branham’s picture up on the top of this blog, because he is Barclay’s hero and a general in the Word-faith Movement and like the heretic Mark Barclay–Branham denied the eternal truth of the Trinity in his ministry by teaching heresy. Further, Branham denied the existence of eternal punishment in hell and the judgement of the lake of fire.

But this denial of hell, which is called Annihilationism isn’t new to Pentecostalism, because this heresy along with heresy on the Trinity goes all the way back to the formation of Pentecostalism at Azusa Street. One of the key figures in the development of Pentecostalism was Charles F. Parham, along with William J. Seymour(Azuza St. Revival)–Charles F. Parham like Branham denied the orthodox teaching of the eternal existence of hell.

“If you see a man that’s cheating, stealing, lying, just remember, his part is waiting in hell, for him, his place where he’ll be tormented in the Presence of God and the holy Angels, with fire and brimstone. He’ll be tormented there. Not forever, he can’t be tormented forever, forever don’t mean all, for all times. Eternity is forever, Eternity is… has no beginning or end. But forever is “a space of time.” The Bible said, “Forever and,” conjunction, “forever.” Jonah said he was in the belly of the whale “forever.” Is a space of time.” William Branham

The heretic Barclay’s pedigree

Pedigree-a pedigree chart pertaining to a purebred animal; may also refer to such a purebred animal itself, e.g. “a pedigree dog” or “a pedigreed dog”.

So it can be clearly seen, that the heretic Mark T. Barclay comes from a longline of canines, which stretch even further back to the Early Church, where his heresies were first condemned by the Apostles and their disciples–the Church Fathers.

Every major branch of Christianity from Catholic to Eastern Orthodox, every major branch of Protestantism and Evangelicalism has condemned the heretic Mark T. Barclay’s false teachings on the Trinity. It’s just that America lives in a day where most people are ignorant of Scripture, and sound doctrine, much like just before the time of the Protestant Reformation.

The heretic Mark T. Barclay uses demonic names against the eternal truth of the Trinity

“But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.” 2 Peter 2-1-3

What’s even worse than having ignorance of the truth? Well it’s loving and spreading error and having deep hatred for the eternal truth of the Trinity and this is the case of Mark T. Barclay and ministry and his church cult at Living Word International. It’s no secret to the people who read his Facebook and other online publications that the heretic calls any defence of the eternal truth of the Trinity over against his glaring Trinitarian heresies vomit and puke or defamation against him.

The truth is that every person who is an authentic Christian has been called to contend for the faith against heretical teachings and heretical leadership inside the Church. Jude addressed the brethren and not special leaders to do this and to contend against the shepherds and false teachers who only feed themselves and work to prey on vulnerable people.

Further, every believer in the Body of Christ has been called to examine Mark T. Barclay’s messages, sermons and prophecies with Scripture and see if he is indeed teaching correctly according to sound doctrine(orthodoxy), but the heretic Barclay doesn’t like that at all and acts like he’s above the Apostle Paul. We see this in the way his ministry hates the eternal Doctrine of the Trinity and how he even goes as far as calling the Christian defence of it demonic names.

Barclay’s false teachings being historically Gnostic are teachings of demons resulting from his devotion to deceitful spirits

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared.” 1 Timothy 4:1-2

Further, Mark T. Barclay is a false teacher with a seared conscious who falsely calls himself a preacher of righteousness, but teaches at least three of the most destructive heresies on the Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ in the history of Christianity. With that said though, I just don’t think he really cares. He has already publicly said that he doesn’t care what others in the Church think of him and shows how inwardly seared he is toward sound doctrine.

“Those that permit the Holy Spirit to be their Father. Those who will allow the Holy Spirit, remember he’s not a third Person, he is God made up of three parts just like…my son Josh and his soul is not some body else and his spirit is not someone else, and so I got to decipher. Now, there’s not three people, it’s just one Josh three parts. There’s not three Gods, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, he’s just one. He’s just got three parts. So this great Holy Spirit wants to father you.” Jesus, the Command Giver – Mark T. Barclay

Attacking the Gnostics, which is one of Mark T. Barclay’s errors , Irenaeus writes:

“But if they had known the Scriptures, and been taught by the truth, they would have known, beyond doubt, that God is not as men are; and that His thoughts are not like the thoughts of men. Far removed is the Father of all from those things, which operate among men, the affections and passions. He is simple, not composed of parts, without structure, altogether like and equal to himself alone. He is all mind, all spirit, all thought, all intelligence, all reason . . . all light, all fountain of every good..” Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2:13:3 (A.D. 189).

The important thing to know about Irenaeus is that without him, Biblical scholarship wouldn’t know what the Gnostics even taught and that’s how invaluable his writings are to the Christian church. And secondly, its about his discipleship, which came from the Church father Polycarp who was the disciple of the Apostle John. And just as important, is his witness of the truth–the Apostolic teachings of the Christian church. This causes Irenaeus to be a reputable witness of the truth which was passed down from the Apostles on the eternal nature of God, the Trinity.

Mark T. Barclay and the spread of Gnosticism: Trinitarian heresies

“But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.” 2 Timothy 2:17-18

Below is taken from the what we believe section of Faith World Outreach Church, which is in Illinois and pastored by Ed Weiss–who boast that him and his wife Debbie have been submitted to Mark T. Barclay for over 20 years. As you can see, the heretic Barclay’s Gnostic heresy on the Trinity has infected Faith World Outreach Also.

“God the Father, Jesus the Son,and the Holy Spirit are co-equal parts of God’s great tri-unity (the three in one).” Faith World Outreach Church

Another minister under Mark T. Barclay also teaches that God is composed of parts is Darryl Baker, he Gnostically writes:

“Churches are supposed to be introducing you to all three parts of the Godhead and how you are to relate to them….The third part of the Godhead is of course the Holy Spirit.”

Another follower of the heretic Mark T. Barclay writes:

“The whole mystery of God is that He is 3 in 1. Three separate parts yet also one complete GOD. I have never heard Mark T. Barclay go against that Doctrine.” Daniel Meeker

I quoted Daniel Meeker again and that was off Youtube, because he quoted heresy and said that Mark T. Barclay was a great man of God and that he knows the Trinity. Daniel also had the audacity to say that he was trained at a Presbyterian school! The thing about this heretical definition, which is quoted above is that I heard it also from another person on Facebook who was a pastor under Mark T. Barclay.

Daniel wrote:

“Mark T Barclay is a great man of God. I was classically trained at a Presbyterian School. So I know the Trinity. His ministry is not in opposition to that doctrine at all.”

I basically told him that such Trinitarian heresy hasn’t been historically taught in the Presbyterian church, which ascribes to Westminster standards.

I said: “You are a complete liar! I will also give the documented source of and the date when it was written-so others can see your stupidity and falsehood in this matter of basic Christian truth as the Trinity and what Presbyterians believe.”

Westminster Confession of Faith 1646 CHAPTER II.

“Of God, and of the Holy Trinity. There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, WITHOUT BODY, PARTS, or passions, IMMUTABLE, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal most just and terrible in his judgments; hating all sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty. III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.”

This is the kind of lies and deception that one runs in with Mark T. Barclay’s followers. This guy is a complete liar and full of deception with hatred of the eternal truth of the Trinity like the heretic Mark T. Barclay. While not being a Presbyterian, I knew exactly what they believe as a Protestant–they have never taught that God is composed of parts, because it’s in their Westminster Confession, which every conservative Presbyterian knows!

Deception runs very deep with those who are under and connected with Mark T. Barclay….

Truth doesn’t change, it’s something that is fixed across time

Truth doesn’t change, because truth is something that is fixed across space and time and doesn’t change and the Christian church is the pillar and ground of truth. This is why we can say that the heretic Mark T. Barclay is in deep sin, perversion and doesn’t belong to the truth being an apostate, because of his false teachings on the eternal truth of the Trinity, which false teachings have been historically condemned by authentic Christianity as we see in the works of the early Church leaders–the fathers .

Further, the heretic Mark T. Barclay can say that he’s something through many lies and many self-given titles but in reality according to historical truth, he isn’t and isn’t walking in the truth, but is ungodly–being a liar like his father the devil and in the deepest biblical error, being in error on the fundamental teaching of the eternal nature of God–the Trinity.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” Matt 7:15-20

How can we say that the heretic Mark T. Barclay is a false teacher and in the deepest biblical error? Well, because his fruits tell us so, his teachings and conduct toward the truth of the Trinity and the heretic’s life is diseased with bad fruit. I mean how evil can a person get..it’s deeply perverse what he has done and taught heretically about the Trinity and how the heretic has misled hundreds of pastors and hundreds of congregations through his false teachings on the eternal nature of both the Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ.

The heretic Mark T. Barclay is not restrained by the truth of the Trinity, but is sensual

“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude 4

Lastly, Trinitarian heresies are the most destructive types of heresies in Christianity and this type of destructive error is directly related to heresies on the Person of Jesus Christ. Thus, when a heretic errors on one of them, they end up erring on both of them.

This is why we can say alone with authentic Christianity that the heretic Mark T. Barclay through his heretical teachings on the Trinity, damages and perverts the orthodox and biblical understanding of Jesus Christ, being one Person with two distinct natures, being truly God and truly man.

We arrive at this, because the heretic Mark T. Barclay teaches that the Trinity isn’t actual persons, but being Gnostic–he teaches that God is composed of parts and if Christ is only a part as Barclay teaches then it’s impossible for Jesus Christ to be one Person with two natures, being truly God and truly man.

So you see here, Mark T. Barclay not only errors on two of the most important doctrines in Christianity, but he errors on every other one, because the doctrine of the Trinity is the key to all other biblical doctrines– including the doctrine of Christian salvation, which he also errs on–because the heretic Mark T. Barclay’s heresies on the Trinity attack the very Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Mark T. Barclay’s errors are so utterly awful that according to Scripture as a heretic he deserves blackness forever.

“These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.” Jude 12-13

Equally amazing to the doctrine of the Trinity is the doctrine of the Incarnation — that Jesus Christ is God and man, yet one person, forever. As J.I. Packer has said, “Here are two mysteries for the price of one — the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. . . . Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.

“The early church considered the Incarnation to be one of the most important truths of our faith. Because of this, they formulated what has come to be called the Chalcedonean Creed, a statement which sets forth what we are to believe and what we are not to believe about the Incarnation. This creed was the fruit of a large council that took place from October 8 to November 1, 451, in the city of Chalcedon and “has been taken as the standard, orthodox definition of the biblical teaching on the person of Christ since that day by” all the major branches of Christianity.There are five main truths with which the creed of Chalcedon summarized the biblical teaching on the Incarnation:”

1. Jesus has two natures — He is God and man.2. Each nature is full and complete — He is fully God and fully man.3. Each nature remains distinct.4. Christ is only one Person.5. Things that are true of only one nature are nonetheless true of the Person of Christ.

Creed of Chalcedon

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [co-essential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the Manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the unity, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning [have declared] concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

It’s an irrefutable fact that Mark T. Barclay is a heretic and builds his hermeneutical and exegetical fallacy in his book The Missing Red Letters on a major Trinitarian heresy, which heresy is historically rooted and grounded in the heresy of Gnosticism and has been condemned by the Christian church since the Apostles.

As we will see in this review, the Apostles and the early leadership of the Christian church opposed Mark T. Barclay’s Gnostic teachings on the Trinity, which heresy in short not only gave rise to other major Trinitarian heresies like Modalism and Arianism, but also influenced Islam after Arianism was rejected by the Eastern church. And like Islam, Mark T. Barclay rejects the Biblical and orthodox teaching that there is one God in three co-equal and eternal persons. [1][2]

What we will find out further in this review is that Mark T. Barclay like other heretics doesn’t know Scripture, even the simple words of Jesus Christ as most Sunday school children do and he stumbles over basic Christian doctrine. This not only makes him a false teacher, but his Trinitarian heresies place his church and ministry in a dangerous cult.

A Cult Defined

“A cult, then, is a group of people polarized around someone’s interpretation of the Bible and is characterized by major deviations from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, particularly the fact that God became man in Jesus Christ.” –Walter Martin, The Rise of the Cults

If you don’t know already, Mark T. Barclay has taught at least three of the most destructive Trinitarian and Christological heresies in the history of the Christian church. In the opening chapter of this book, Barclay continues this sickening perversion and teaches that God is a three-part being and in other teachings he has evilly taught that God has changed and that the Godhead is not actual persons and heretically mixes up the roles of the divine persons. This places the message of this book in the deepest biblical error and is an insult to the Holy Spirit.

Why is the Trinity important? Well, first of all, the doctrine of the Trinity regulates Christian worship and further it holds the keys to all other doctrines. This means that all other teachings in Scripture are inseparable from the doctrine of the Trinity and this is how basic and foundational the Trinity is to all teaching in Scripture. Or I will say it differently, the centrality of Christian teaching and worship is found in the Trinity and the orthodox teaching of the person of Jesus Christ that he is truly God and truly man. The confession of the Trinity is the throbbing heartbeat of the Christian church, “every error results from, or upon deeper reflection maybe traced to a wrong view of this doctrine”. [3] “The Church is truly Church in so far as it dwells in the Holy Trinity and embodies the truth of the Gospel in its empirical life and worship.” [4]

Barclay’s False Teachings in a Nutshell

In a nutshell, here’s what Mark T. Barclay has heretically taught.

Mark T. Barclay has taught that God is made up of parts and is a three-part being.

He has taught that the Trinity is not individual persons (hypostasis) for he heretically states that: “We teach them sorta, kinda almost as three different people for the sake of teaching.”

Like the Jehovah Witnesses, has taught that in heaven God was Creator and not the Father. Thus, teaching an Arian concept of the person of the Father.

He has wickedly taught that God changed for human understanding.

Barclay’s heretical teachings on the Godhead, damages the orthodox and cardinal teaching of Christ’s hypostatic union, being fully and truly God and fully and truly man in one single divine person.

If Jesus is only a part and isn’t truly a person as with the other members of the Godhead, then he can’t be biblically God. This is how radically destructive Mark T. Barclay’s false teachings are to the orthodox understanding to the nature of the Trinity and to the Gospel, because Barclay like other heretics and cults destroys the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Simply put, salvation depends on a right formulation of Christ’s nature. This is why we can say that the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses for example have a different god and their Jesus can’t save. [5]

Christ’s Hypostatic Union.

Furthermore, the correct understanding of Jesus Christ is that he is God in the flesh and is one person with two natures, being truly man and truly God. Thus, we can unequivocally conclude through the objective truth of Scripture that Mark T. Barclay’s god like the Jehovah Witnesses is radically different than the God of Christianity and like other cults can’t save. [6]

The Orthodox and Biblical Understanding of the Trinity: “Tres personae, Una Substantia” “

“The doctrine of the Trinity means that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Stated differently, God is one in essence and three in person. These definitions express three crucial truths: (1) The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons, (2) each Person is fully God, (3) there is only one God.” [7]

Barclay’s Error is Historically Rooted in Gnosticism.

What we find out its that Mark T. Barclay’s heresy on the Trinity and his destructive teaching on the Biblical understanding of Jesus Christ were refuted and condemned in the early church, because Barclay’s false teachings are historically pinpointed in time and space as Gnostic.

I have quoted this quote from Irenaeus before in connection with Barclay’s condemnation as a heretic, but this time I will unpack it and since this is a book review I think it’s appropriate.

Attacking the Gnostics, Irenaeus writes:

“But if they had known the Scriptures, and been taught by the truth, they would have known, beyond doubt, that God is not as men are; and that His thoughts are not like the thoughts of men. Far removed is the Father of all from those things, which operate among men, the affections and passions. He is simple, not composed of parts, without structure, altogether like and equal to himself alone. He is all mind, all spirit, all thought, all intelligence, all reason . . . all light, all fountain of every good..” Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2:13:3 (A.D. 189).

Further attacking the Gnostics and defending the one and undivided nature of God, Irenaeus writes:

“For if He produced intelligence, then He who did thus produce intelligence must be understood, in accordance with their views, as a compound and corporeal Being; so that God, who sent forth [the intelligence referred to], is separate from it, and the intelligence which was sent forth separate [from Him]. But if they affirm that intelligence was sent forth from intelligence, they then cut asunder the intelligence of God, and divide it into parts.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2:13:5

Church father Irenaeus goes on further and places Gnostic thought and heresy in the ancient doctrines of heathenism, which were taught by the philosophers.

He writes:

“These men (the heretics), adopting this fable as their own, have ranged their opinions round it, as if by a sort of natural process, changing only the names of the things referred to, and setting forth the very same beginning of the generation of all things, and their production.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2:14:1

He further writes:

“This thought, too, these men have transferred to “the seed” of their Mother, which they maintain to be themselves; thus acknowledging at once, in the judgment of such as are possessed of sense, that they themselves are the offspring of the irreligious Anaxagoras”. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2:14:2

Who was the philosopher Anaxagoras? Well, a Greek philosopher. He believed that all matter was infinitely divisible and motionless until animated by mind. Thus, we can conclude a few things here about Mark Barclay’s Heresies:

It’s an irrefutable fact that Mark T. Barclay’s teaching on the Trinity is Gnostic, being rooted and grounded in that heresy.

Even with biblical names as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Barclay’s god being Gnostic is radically different than the biblical God who is triune in three persons.

Barclay’s Gnostic heresy is time dated to just under a hundred years after the death of the Apostle John.

Our information as we will see comes from the number one expert on Gnosticism, Irenaeus.

Who was Saint Irenaeus?

It’s important to note here that what we historically know about Gnosticism in the early Church comes from Church father Irenaeus himself. This is how important his apologetic work is to the Christian church. “He studied twenty of the most influential Gnostic writers and defined and criticized their beliefs. Other early church fathers, such as Tertullian and Origen also provide information regarding Gnostic beliefs.” [8] So who was Irenaeus? Well, he was taught by another Church father by the name of Polycarp who was the disciple of the Apostle of John. It is for certain that Irenaeus knew the teachings of the Apostles on the Trinity and knew the errors of the Gnostics. He spent his whole life attacking their false teachings.

Gnosticism Defined

What is Gnosticism?

“Gnosticism is a heresy which is made up of a diverse set of beliefs. It is the teaching based on the idea of gnosis (a Koine Greek word meaning “secret knowledge”), or knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of internal, intuitive means.” [9]

Further, what we do know by history is that the Gnostics repudiated major Christian doctrines like the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ.So again, we can see that Mark T. Barclay’s Jesus being a Gnostic and a false Jesus is radically different than the biblical Christ who is one person with two natures, being truly God and truly man.

Moreover, to refute these facts is to refute not only the Scriptural teaching of the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ, but it’s also a rejection of historical reality itself, which is a dangerous thing that all members of cults do to their own eternal destruction. Thus, a god who is of three-parts can’t save anyone and is a false god, being an idol and breaks the Second Commandment of the Law.

Further, for arguments sake, someone wouldn’t say that America was founded on Communism. I’m sure, if someone came to you and told you that that you would tell them that they were lying and refute them with evidence, because everyone knows that the early settlers were Christians, and America was founded on Democracy and not Communism. So in the same sense we know that Mark T. Barclay’s heresies on the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ are Gnostic, which factual truths are historical and this is irrefutable.

Barclay Teaches more Gnostic Error on the Trinity

In another message, Mark T. Barclay compounds his heresies with another assault on the Trinity and the person of Jesus Christ by teaching that God changed, which biblically is untrue, because God is holy and unchangeable. Further, Barclay in his ungodliness teaches that the phrase ‘persons in Trinity’ are only taught for teaching sake and the members of the Godhead are really parts.

“In Genesis Chapter 1, it defines the Trinity of God, the three parts of God. You are made by the way after his image, three parts” Mark T. Barclay further states that: “now these aren’t three different people. We teach them sorta, kinda almost as three different people for the sake of teaching.”

In the same message, he furthers his Gnostic blasphemy against the Spirit:

“Those that permit the Holy Spirit to be their Father. Those who will allow the Holy Spirit, remember he’s not a third Person, he is God made up of three parts just like…my son Josh and his soul is not some body else and his spirit is not someone else, and so I got to decipher. Now, there’s not three people, it’s just one Josh three parts. There’s not three Gods, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, he’s just one. He’s just got three parts. So this great Holy Spirit wants to father you.” Jesus, the Command Giver – Mark T. Barclay

Mark T. Barclay is showing his deception and lying here, when he states that we “teach them sorta, kinda almost as three different people for the sake of teaching.” The Christian church has never taught that God is a three-part being, because Scripture doesn’t teach it. The only ‘we’ who teaches that heresy is he, the Gnostics and other heretics. Barclay couldn’t be in more error on the Godhead!

Scripture Teaches Christ is the Exact Duplicate of the Father’s Person (Greek: Hypostasis)

Hebrews 1:3 states: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:” Authorized King James Version

If you notice, the writer of Hebrews describes Jesus Christ as the expressed image of the Father’s person (Greek: hypostasis). The Greek word ‘hypostasis’ is never translated as ‘part’. Unpacking it more, we can see that, “Christ is the “exact representation” (vs. 3, Gk. Charakter, “exact duplicate”) of the nature or being (Gk. hypostasis) of God—meaning that God the Son exactly duplicates the being or nature of God the Father in every way: whatever attributes or power God the Father has, God the Son has them as well.” [10]

Gill says:

“that the Father and the Son are of the same nature, as the sun and its ray; and that the one is not before the other, and yet distinct from each other, and cannot be divided or separated one from another……this intends much the same as the other phrase; namely, equality and sameness of nature, and distinction of persons; for if the Father is God, Christ must be so too; and if he is a person, his Son must be so likewise, or he cannot be the express image and character of him;” [11] So, summarizing what Scripture teaches on the Trinity:

God is three persons.

Each person is fully God.

There is only one God

The Truth About Defamation and Slander

For those who have accused my apologetic work against Mark T. Barclay’s heresies as slander and defamation, you couldn’t be more wrong here, because the defense of the Trinity is the highest mark of Christian leadership in the Church. So in regards to defamation and slander, the truth is an absolute defense against slander and defamation. What does that mean? Well it means that true statements can’t be defamatory or slander and the truth is that Mark T. Barclay is a heretic and his Trinitarian and Christological heresies are historically rooted in Gnosticism. To deny that is to deny reality itself. If Barclay’s teachings on the Trinity weren’t heresies, then the Church leader Irenaeus who was the expert on Gnosticism wouldn’t have attacked it as such or even placed it in Gnosticism. But what we see is that Mark T. Barclay’s heresies on the nature of God and the nature of Christ were indeed Gnostic and condemned word for word by the Christian church.

Barclay’s Heresy Refuted by the Father of Orthodoxy

Further, we can see that Barclay’s heresies were refuted and condemned in the Church’s struggle with another heresy called Arianism, which chiefly rejected the deity of Jesus Christ. Saint Athanasius writes:

“God, however, being without parts, is Father of the Son without division and without being acted upon. For neither is there an effluence from that which is incorporeal, nor is there anything flowering into him from without, as in the case of men. Being simple in nature, he is Father of one only Son.” Saint Athanasius (Letter on the Council of Nicaea A.D. 350)

In his Discourses against the Arians he further writes:

“As we said above, so now we repeat, that the divine generation must not be compared to the nature of men nor the Son considered to be part of God nor the generation to imply any passion whatever; God is not as man; for men beget passibly, having a transitive nature, which waits for periods by reason of its weakness. But with God this cannot be; for He is not composed of parts, but being impassible and simple, He is impassibly and indivisibly Father of the Son.” Discourse 1:28 Against the Arians by Saint Athanasius

Athanasius Contra Mundum

In the Assembly of God Enrichment Journal, William P. Farley writes this about Athanasius’s leadership:

“Athanasius was born between A.D. 295 and 300. He was short and stocky, but what he lacked in physicalappearance he made up for in fervent piety, holiness of life, penetrating intellect, and unusual gifts of leadership. In A.D. 321, on behalf of Bishop Alexander, Athanasius wrote the excommunication statement that banished Arius.” Herman Bavinck has this also to say: “Athanasius understood better than any of his contemporaries that Christianity stands or falls with the confession of the deity of Christ and of the Trinity.”

Final Thoughts

So you see, Mark T. Barclay couldn’t be more eternally wrong on the Trinity and the nature of the person of Jesus Christ in the heretical teachings in this book and other places. This not only places his ministry in a cult, and him as a heretic, but it also acknowledges him as an apostate. As we will see in part two of this review, Barclay’s heresies on the Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ, which are rooted in Gnosticism have detrimental ramifications on the message of the rest of this book.

One think comes to my mind when I reflect on the Apostles and the leadership of the Church fathers is that it becomes very evident that men like Chuck Seeley, Richard Jolliff and others like Al Leonhardt of the Assemblies of God are looking for leadership outside of Christianity and they found it in leadership that is rooted historically in the heresy of Gnosticism and this is irrefutable.

Why can I say that? Well, because true biblical leadership is found in the teaching of sound doctrine and the defense of the Trinity and the defense of the Person of Jesus Christ, which Mark T. Barclay hasn’t attained too, but has shown himself to be a Gnostic and a Trinitarian heretic.

Conclusion

So to conclude part one of this review we can affirmably say along which Scripture and the historical witness of the Trinitarian leadership of the Christian church that:

Again, because of Barclay’s heresies on the Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ his ministry and church is a cult.

Barclay’s heretical teachings are a result of the rejection of the authority of Scripture, which heresies have been condemned by the Christian Church.

Mark T. Barclay’s leadership is Gnostic and his heresies on the Trinity and the Person of Christ are rooted in that same heresy of Gnosticism and this is both historically and biblically irrefutable.

References:

“When the Quran is placed in the context of Syrian Christianity and the debates over Arian, Nestorian, and Monophysite Christology that wracked eastern Christianity in these centuries, its debt to Christianity becomes plausible. The Quran includes passages, for example, that reflect Syrian attacks on Monophysite Christology.” http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2012/12/the-christian-origins-of-islam

“There is also the superstition of the Ishmaelites which to this day prevails and keeps people in error, being a forerunner of the Antichrist. They are descended from Ishmael, [who] was born to Abraham of Agar, and for this reason they are called both Agarenes and Ishmaelites… From that time to the present a false prophet named Mohammed has appeared in their midst. This man, after having chanced upon the Old and New Testaments and likewise, it seems, having conversed with an Arian monk, devised his own heresy. Then, having insinuated himself into the good graces of the people by a show of seeming piety, he gave out that a certain book had been sent down to him from heaven. He had set down some ridiculous compositions in this book of his and he gave it to them as an object of veneration.”http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/stjohn_islam.aspx